San Clemente, CA Beauty and Salons

The blue LED lights shining throughout Bright Smile Teeth Whitening’s office glow with purpose—to activate and oxidize the system’s specially formulated whitening gel. In just 30 minutes, this duo tag-teams the stains that result from using tobacco, drinking coffee, or mistaking a quill for a toothpick, lightening teeth up to six shades. Bright Smile also downsizes its system to make it feasible for at-home shading, even providing a compact blue light that fits snugly in mouths.

From wall-length windows, passersby peek into the fuchsia halls of U-Wink Eyelash Extensions and watch as experts carefully elongate lashes and transform normal eyelashes into dynamic and striking blinking machines. During the eyelash-extension sessions, the specialists bond between 30 and 120 individual lashes made of synthetic materials, silk, or mink to natural lashes, meticulously skipping baby lashes in order to avoid disrupting the lashes’ natural lifecycle. In addition to lashes, the specialists dress eyes and faces with mineral eye shadows during makeovers or makeup lessons using a handful of the 40 colors that can be used as eye shadow, lip gloss, eyeliner, nail polish, or thought bubbles.

Kimberly Bondurant first embarked on her skin-nurturing career on the sunny outskirts of Jaco, Costa Rica. For five years, she worked alongside her mother—a licensed aesthetician and former salon owner—at her salon, gleaning her beauty knowledge and techniques. Today, Kimberly has become a licensed aesthetician and beautifies clients of her own.

At My Little Place Boutique, she draws on the training she received from Luscious Lashes as she applies waterproof lash extensions to lids one at a time. During her custom spray-tanning sessions, she darkens complexions with organic and cruelty-free solutions sans harmful UV rays. Inside her boutique, white walls and minimalistic decor let the clothing take center stage. The shelves overflow with jewelry and accessories by Sweet September and D. Ferrari Designs, in addition to skincare products by Ayur-Medic. Two wicker chairs with frilly cream-colored pillows nestle near a vase of flowers and beckon guests to rest and brainstorm new job-search options for the sun.

Legends' stylists are seers with scissors, mystics whose vision allows them to see the fashionable future hidden in your topside spindrift, coaxed into being with deft, daring, and gossip. The luxuriating handjitsu of their wash and styling will transport your hair into a realm of cosmic sexy, perfectly attuned to the vibrations of the Hairverse. The experienced hair artists are well versed in looks that run the gamut from modern to edgy to timelessly classic. They'll also apply a Kérastase conditioning treatment, specially chosen for your hair type, that perks and restores your hair with vitality and shine as if it were a parched desert plant dumped in a public swimming pool.

Though Luca Shea the Salon is small and tucked away from the bustling streets of Dana Point, the sophistication, creativity, and skill of the stylists within know no bounds. The husband-and-wife styling team of Ben and Farra Shea Coury have gone out of their way to make their boutique space welcoming and cozy, crafting a menu of salon and spa services for men and women. They strive to complement faces of all shapes and tones with precise cuts, bold hues, hair extensions, and products from Moroccanoil and Aquage. They also highlight tresses with Scruples, a bleach-free system that damages hair less than traditional techniques, such as mailing strands to the sun. When they aren't primping coiffures, they daub visages with facials and embellish features with Fenix Cosmetics products.

The hair-pampering pros at The Haircutters have trimmed locks and transformed outmoded manes for more than a quarter of a century. Unlike many salons, in which shampooing is a separate service, the team starts off every haircut and style by treating scalps to suds with handfuls of professional products from top brands such as Biolage and American Crew.

Apart from the signature shampoo-and-cuts, the staff at The Haircutters also offers color and texturizing services. Redken color camp for men gets hombres’ heads looking good, and spiral perms cascade with curls. Devoted to client convenience, The Haircutters welcomes walk-ins seven days a week.